Localising Content for Foreign Markets: A Practitioner's Guide to Translation Rights, Dubbing and Subtitles, Moral Rights, and Vendor Contracts
By Casey Scott McKay ·
This guide builds a localisation programme that produces owned assets rather than a decade of unattributed derivative works. It begins with the clearance question — whether the right to translate exists and where it came from — and then works through the ownership architecture, using the work made for hire category that makes commissioned translations unusual and the assignment language that covers the cases where it fails. The middle sections address the separate rights bundle in dubbing and subtitling, the moral rights regimes that can make an authorised adaptation unlawful in its target market, and the drafting of language and territory grants that do not align. The closing sections cover brand localisation, software and interface content, machine translation and synthetic voice policy, regulated content, and the records that answer a diligence request years later.
IP and Technology > Copyright | Guide | Published 13 May 2024 - Updated 8 August 2026 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
Summary. This guide builds a localisation programme that produces owned assets rather than a decade of unattributed derivative works. It begins with the clearance question — whether the right to translate exists and where it came from — and then works through the ownership architecture, using the work made for hire category that makes commissioned translations unusual and the assignment language that covers the cases where it fails. The middle sections address the separate rights bundle in dubbing and subtitling, the moral rights regimes that can make an authorised adaptation unlawful in its target market, and the drafting of language and territory grants that do not align. The closing sections cover brand localisation, software and interface content, machine translation and synthetic voice policy, regulated content, and the records that answer a diligence request years later.
Keywords: localisation programme · translation rights clearance · work made for hire writing · vendor assignment · subcontractor flow down · translation memory ownership · dubbing rights bundle · performer terms · subtitle files · moral rights abroad · language versus territory grants · brand transliteration · software string localisation · machine translation policy · synthetic voice consent · regulated content translation · community translation · registration of translations · chain of title records · localisation diligence
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